The Day of Victory of Love Part 3 of 4

Sun Myung MoonJanuary 3, 1986ExcerptsSeoul, Korea

Jeung
Jin Nim, dressed in her finest, poses with Father and Mother after
her sister Un Jin Nim's wedding.

What kind of promise do you think God made with me when I began to
walk the way of His will in my youth? He told me His promise would
unfold in one of two different ways: One was that I would build the
Kingdom of God on the 2000-year foundation of Christianity without
any suffering; the other was that I, like Jesus, would go through
incredible suffering but then emerge victorious. The first promise
foretold that if Christianity and America were to accept me, the
Kingdom of God would be built automatically. If, as the victor of
World War II, America had indeed united with Korean Christianity and
accepted me, then the ideal of the unified world would have
materialized in seven years. However, I foresaw early in my life that
suffering was destined to follow me wherever I went. Therefore, I was
well prepared internally before God ordered me to go to North Korea
and, later, to America.

In North Korea I went to prison, to a place that even Satan
couldn't stand. There I established a standard of love much higher
than Satan's. I came out of that prison with a victorious
proclamation that I would return to the North with a love that was
far beyond the individual level, and win the final battle. Without
such a standard of love, it is not possible to liberate humankind
from Satan. Even individual liberation is not possible unless we
belong to God, centering on love. After individual liberation is
accomplished, we should go forward to liberate the family, the
nation, and the world.

America Turned Her Face Away

When I went to America, carrying the mission to liberate
humankind, no one welcomed me. America turned her face away. Try to
think about what my sorrow was like at that time. White Americans
especially just watched me suspiciously while I worked for the
providence. Even the American members complained about my activities.
I reminded myself of the persecution I had gone through in Korea and
consoled myself that it was not so strange after all to be persecuted
in America, since I had been persecuted even by my own parents, my
wife and child, my hometown, and the government of Korea. If I had
not been so bitterly persecuted in Korea, I would have gone back
there as soon as I was persecuted in America. At first I thought that
persecution by foreigners would be stronger than by Koreans, but I
discovered that it was weaker. I told myself that I could not be
angry, because I knew my way was destined to be the most rugged of
all.

My suffering has been bigger and deeper than that of any patriot
who ever longed for the liberation of his country. Because I never
avoided suffering, but rather fought and overcame it directly, my
life has been indescribably painful. I dedicated my youth to building
the Kingdom of God and totally sacrificed my individual and family
happiness. Right after I founded the Unification Church, the
extensive persecution from Ehwa University began. From even before
that time up until today, I have passed through a way of suffering
more painful than treading on thorns with bare feet; it was
heartbreaking.

You, who have walked together with me on this way since joining
the church, should examine yourselves. If you have done anything
which you feel is unforgivable, I believe you know what to do to
repair it. In your minds, who am I? What do you feel about me? Please
think about whom I have been dedicating my life for. I never lived
for myself as an individual. Because I am in the position of a
parent, I have dedicated my life for you and your children. I have
been bearing the cross for all of you with joy.

I have fulfilled my responsibility towards the blessed families.
The 36, 72, and 124 Couples always had at least the minimum standard
of living necessary for their activities. I myself have lived in such
a way that the blessed families could never accuse me. I provided
homes, food, and clothes for blessed families, and they received
money when they were in need.

Yet I could not even buy a handkerchief for my physical mother. I
could not fulfill the dictates of filial piety toward my physical
parents while they were on earth, but I have been fulfilling them for
Heavenly Father. That is the more genuine, precious, sincere, and
eternal filial piety. Thus I have set up conditions for my physical
parents to be proud of their son in the spirit world. On earth they
complained about me and were opposed to my ways; now in spirit world,
knowing that I walked the way of the most dear and pious son of God,
they can understand and feel gratitude.

In The Very Whirlpool of War

In the year I was born, an independence movement arose in Korea.
From 1920 the Korean people suffered seven lean and hungry years and
were ruthlessly exploited by the Japanese. They had a hard time both
from within and from without. This difficult situation came as
national indemnity for the sake of the birth of one baby sent by God,
foreshadowing that his life on earth would be a miserable one. My
life began in the very whirlpool of war, and I grew up experiencing
the vicissitudes and painful events related to war. During the first
40 years of my life, human history faced sudden changes again and
again, and in this body I have confronted and passed through many
monumental events of this ever-changing age.

I was always hungry until I was over 30 years old, although this
was not due to poverty. While I attended school in Seoul, I cooked
for myself but I did not eat well. I strictly economized in all
aspects of my life. I supported myself by pulling a hand wagon
whenever I had time, and I helped my friends with the extra money I
earned. During vacations many of my friends happily went back to
their hometowns, but I did not go to mine. I kept working because I
did not want my mother to worry about my tuition and fees.

In my school days I used to pray more than 15 times a day, even
while studying. At that time I had to go outside to the well to wash.
In the winter the water was very cold, and when I came back to my
room, which was also terribly cold, I felt as if my whole body were
freezing. Nevertheless I persevered and kept on praying. I used only
a single-layer quilt for warmth. My youth and my diligent prayer life
must have made it possible for me to endure those cold winters.

I also kept a diary, but I could not keep it for long. Since
Korean students were often involved in independence movements,
Japanese police would investigate our homes and arrest people on the
slightest provocation. I could not write about many important things,
so I committed them to memory instead.

I did not wear fine clothes and had no time to get dressed up or
hang around on the streets. My clothes were always very simple. I
could not go to the barber shop very often, so my beard would grow
out. Still, I never forgot to attend church.

Father
(far right) with a church group in Seoul; the minister is standing.

I Was Popular With the Children

As a Sunday school teacher I was very popular with the children. I
used to tell them interesting Bible stories and fairy tales. Once I
started, I wasn't likely to stop. Sometimes I spoke all day long! I
loved the children very much, so they followed me happily. Whenever I
visited the neighborhood churches, the parents as well as the
children would surround me and listen to my stories. Some of the
children I taught in Sunday school are now Unification Church
members. They say that my story-telling was really interesting in
those days! I worked hard because I considered that teaching in
Sunday school was my preparation for establishing God's will on
earth. From my school days, I was always concerned about how to
realize Heavenly Father's will in this fallen world. I did not create
goals for individual achievement, but I committed all my efforts to
finding the original human world.

Since I have undertaken the way of God's will, there is no place I
have not been. I know the customs of every corner of this country.
Sometimes on my journeys I could not find any place to sleep, so I
would spend the night at beggars' shelters, talking with the men
until late into the night and praying for God's will to be fulfilled
even through them. I worked on the mountainside together with the
peasants who make charcoal, praying that God's will would one day
rise just like those flames. Wherever I went my heart was given to
God. I knew that I could not enter the realm of God's heart if I
could not plant my own heart in the ground of God's will. I always
lived single- mindedly so that I could represent God's inner
situation at all times.

Later I went to Japan, where I continued to study and lead the
same lifestyle. My life in Japan was miserable. I filled my days with
nothing but study and manual labor. With the money from my jobs, I
paid my tuition and fees and helped my friends to pay theirs, just as
before. My life has been lived for God and for my neighbors in every
way.

I am voluntarily walking on a rugged and sorrowful path. Do you
know why I am going through such a difficult process? It is the
unavoidable way of destiny. You are people who have pledged to follow
me. You say that you love and respect me. If this is so, you have to
consider what you have done for God, for me, and for yourselves, and
how much you have really achieved in your mission to restore other
people.

God tried to fulfill His will by sending the Messiah to the people
of Israel, who helped prepared for his coming for 4,000 years. They
should have believed in and attended Jesus as the son of God, and
they should have realized the true meaning of all the historical
events through which God had called them to lay the foundation of
faith. They should have offered their wives, their children, and
their belongings, as well as their own minds and bodies, to Jesus.
They should have offered everything in obedience to God. If the
family-level ownership of love centering on Jesus had been
established in this way, the Kingdom of Heaven could have been built
on earth automatically. Yet because Jesus was betrayed and nailed to
the cross, this providence was delayed until the time of the Second
Advent.

The Age of Completing God's Will

On the path of God's will I had an extremely difficult time until
I was 40 years old. This was the time period in which I surmounted
Jesus' individual course. When I married Mother at the age of 40, I
took the next step to the family level. From there I was to build a
stable worldwide foundation until I reached the age of 60. Forty
years from my 60th birthday we will be in our third millennium, at
which time the providence should be fulfilled completely. The
original world of God's ideal should be built by that time. In this
age of completing God's will, we have to pursue stable progress
rather than adventure. The age of adventure has passed away.

Now nobody can exterminate the Unification Church in Korea or
America with any kind of power. The communist world cannot do
anything against us; we have a firm foundation for the church even in
the communist bloc. Even after I go to the spirit world the
Unification Church will continue to exist forever on the earth.

Now is the time when the final trial is being held. This is the
most important moment for me to stand before you and give you God's
message, although even if I don't speak to you, God's will is
destined to be fulfilled. As parents, husbands and wives, and sons
and daughters, you as well as all your belongings must be given the
qualification by God to be the true owners of God's love. Without
inheriting this qualification through the True Parents, there is no
way you can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. You will not be able to
enter if you miss the deadline. Even though you may be billionaires,
or even if billions of you want to enter, no one will show you the
way. Only when you inherit true ownership centering on God's love can
you enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

The purpose of establishing the Day of All Things was so that men
and women could be given the qualification of true ownership.
Restoration through indemnity is necessary because the fallen world
still owns parental love and children's love. Without liquidating the
love of the fallen world, you as individuals cannot enter into the
realm of true ownership under God's love. In order to be individually
recognized by God, you must relate to True Parents, the unfallen
ancestors, in the direct dominion of God's love. You must be free
from all fallen nature according to the standard of the Principle.
You should ask yourselves, "Have I become absolutely one with
God's love as a son or daughter in my motivation, my actions, and my
life goals? Have I been given the qualification for ownership
centering on the true love of God?" How can you freely eat or
sleep without having fulfilled this requirement?

Before hoping to attain dominion over the universe, you must
complete dominion over yourselves. The biggest obstacle to this is
your habitualiszed fallen nature. Without removing your fallen
nature, you can never perfect dominion over yourselves. Everyone
wants to fulfill his or her desires. The desire for eating, for
sleeping, and for sex are the main desires of people in the fallen
world, and we should fight and overcome them at any cost in order to
stand in front of God. These three desires are the most important
targets of our struggle.

My Fight against Human Desires

In my school days in Japan, I considered the fight against these
three desires to be of utmost importance in becoming free of fallen
nature. In order to complete dominion over myself, I had to struggle
incredibly. I had to consider beautiful women as stones or wooden
objects. I could never touch any woman to quell the normal
hot-blooded desires every young man has, nor could I fall into that
sentimental kind of love which comes so easily to young people.
School girls would often visit me in my room. I tried to think of
them not as women but as sisters, and I advised them in the right way
of life. As a foreigner, I also had to be cautious of entering into
any liaisons with people.

Among the schoolgirls who visited me was the daughter of a very
well-known rich man from Hwang Hae Do. She used to come to my room
when I was out and leave money there. Normally in such a situation
people would think me lucky to have a rich girlfriend, but I made it
my goal to fight against any seduction by rich women. I never touched
that money. Only after six months did I invite her to my room. Then I
told her about my ideas and my historical position. I told her what
we had to do for the sake of the future of Korea, and how diligently
we should study in the face of ethnic discrimination.

After listening to me she said that never in her life had she
known a man like me. She said that I possessed the true soul of Korea
-- a genuine Korean spirit. She bowed to me and shed tears, asking me
to forgive her for not understanding my deep purpose and expressing
hope that she could attend me as a sister. From that time on I took
the best care of her among all the Korean schoolgirls I knew in
japan.

When I was young my only desire was to see God cry with gratitude
and joy. I have been living to see the day when God could shed tears
of love and tell me, "You have resolved all my historical
resentment toward all countries and all peoples!" If God could
shed such tears because of my effort, then I could say that the
purpose of my life was fulfilled.

Living with this kind of heart, I never cried for myself, even as
blood spurted out of my mouth when I was beaten in prison. In the
same way, I never shed a single tear for Heung Jin until his Seunghwa
ceremony was over. If I had cried to see my own beloved son dead, how
would God feel? I would gladly make a sacrifice of one thousand or
ten thousand sons if it could relieve God's heart of pain and
resentment.

Only after Heung Jin's Seunghwa ceremony was over and I had
fulfilled my responsibility as a parent did I shed any tears. First I
had to clear away everything that remained to be solved before he
died in confrontation with Satan. If I had not set up indemnity
conditions, including the Unification Ceremony and the Day of Victory
of Love, Heung Jin's death would have been meaningless.